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Armsmaster
Armsmaster is one of the 14 Hero Abilities available in Master of Magic. When the Armsmaster Hero is in a stack with at least one Normal Unit at the start of any overland turn, each Normal Unit in that stack receives an extra amount of Experience points, on top of the +1 Experience that such units receive by default. The Armsmaster ability has two levels: "Basic" and "Super". A Hero possessing Basic Armsmaster gives out for each he/she has (including the first level). A Hero possessing Super Armsmaster gives per level instead. Note that only Normal Units benefit from this bonus, and only those that have not yet reached (the maximum limit). Only a single Champion possesses Armsmaster by default: Deth Stryke the Swordsman. He may occasionally upgrade to Super Armsmaster thanks to Random Abilities. 17 other Heroes may select Armsmaster or even Super Armsmaster as one of their Random Abilities. Description To prepare soldiers for combat, it is necessary not only to equip them with weapons and armor, but also with knowledge. Though much Experience can come from the actual fighting, it is also possible to train a soldier in combat techniques, and to prepare him for the psychological aspects of going into battle. A leader who possesses plenty of experience and is also skilled in conferring this knowledge to his underlings can quickly build a powerful force. Heroes possessing the Armsmaster ability are therefore much in demand for any empire that relies on Normal Units. The speed at which new units can be trained may greatly influence how well the entire army performs whenever it goes off to war. Effect The Armsmaster ability does not act on the Hero possessing it, but rather on Normal Units who are part of the Hero's army. At the start of each overland turn, every Normal Unit on the map gains exactly for free. As it reaches a certain number of points, the unit's goes up, and it wins many permanent bonuses as a result (particularly to basic unit attributes, like , , and so on). Whenever a Normal Unit starts its overland turn in the same army stack as a Hero with the Armsmaster ability, the unit gains a bonus number of Experience points. This essentially means that it has advanced much faster towards the next Experience Level. If the unit stays in the Hero's army for a sufficient number of turns, it could rapidly reach very high Experience Levels. The exact number of bonus Experience points given by an Armsmaster Hero depends on the Hero's level, as well as on which version of this ability the Hero possesses. "Super" Armsmaster provides a 50% greater benefit than the "Basic" version. Heroes with Armsmaster are often left behind the lines to train new units being produced within your empire. New units are often weak, and thus could gain plenty of survivability. Units surviving for longer will gain additional Experience (automatically and from winning battles), and may eventually reach high Experience levels as a result - becoming quite fearsome. The Armsmaster bonus is non-cumulative. This means that if two or more Heroes possessing Armsmaster are in the same army, only one of the bonuses is selected and applied to the Normal Units in that army. The game will automatically select the strongest Armsmaster of any Hero in the stack. Finally, remember that Armsmaster only applies on a per-turn basis at the start of each overland turn. It does not influence Experience gained from winning battles. Units Enjoying This Bonus The Armsmaster effect applies only to Normal Units in the Hero's army - though this includes both Undead and Chaos Channeled units. Fantastic Units do not have Experience, and thus cannot utilize any bonus. While fellow Heroes do have Experience, it is implied that the Armsmaster simply cannot teach them anything new. Thus, Heroes in the same army as an Armsmaster do not gain any per-turn Experience bonus either. Normal Units, contrarily, thrive on training. All Normal Units benefit from an Armsmaster's presence, as described earlier - including some types of units that aren't always considered "Normal". For example, Chaos Channeled units, while they can be seen as creatures of the realm, are still considered Normal Units too, and will thus benefit from Armsmaster as described above. The same goes for Undead units - being associated with the realm but still considered a Normal Unit in some aspects. The only difference here is that Undead units do not accumulate any experience on their own. The number of Experience points they gain each turn is equal exactly to the Armsmaster bonus (they don't get that extra +1 that other Normal Units do, as explained earlier), and equals exactly 0 when no Armsmaster is present. This nonetheless makes Armsmaster Heroes extremely valuable for Undead-based armies, since they cannot gain Experience in any other way! Finally, remember that once any Normal Unit reaches 120 Experience Points (which makes it at least an "Elite" unit), that unit will cease accumulating Experience. Such units do not benefit from an Armsmaster's presence. Basic Armsmaster When a valid Normal Unit starts its turn in the same army with a "Basic" Armsmaster Hero, this unit receives an extra for each the Hero has. This includes the first Experience level, so the Hero will always give at least by default. Remember that the unit in question also receives +1 Experience Point just by still being alive. Thus the total number of Experience Points that the Normal Unit actually receives each turn equals (2 * Hero's Level) + 1. By the time the Hero reaches ("Demi-God"), he/she bestows a total of to all Normal Units in his/her stack. This is enough to get an accompanying Normal Unit from ("Recruit") all the way to ("Elite") in only 7 turns. Super Armsmaster When a valid Normal Unit starts its turn in the same army with a "Super" Armsmaster Hero, this unit receives an extra for each the Hero has. This includes the first Experience level, so the Hero will always give at least by default. Remember that the unit in question also receives +1 Experience Point just by still being alive. Thus the total number of Experience Points that the Normal Unit actually receives each turn equals (3 * Hero's Level) + 1. By the time the Hero reaches ("Demi-God"), he/she bestows a total of to all Normal Units in his/her stack. This is enough to get an accompanying Normal Unit from ("Recruit") all the way to ("Elite") in only 5 turns. In fact, any Level 1 ("Recruit") unit that spends a single turn in the Super Armsmaster Hero's army will reach Level 2 ("Regular") immediately at the start of the next turn. Improvement Table The table below shows exactly how much benefit the Armsmaster ability gives at each Experience level: Heroes with Default Armsmaster There is only 1 Hero in the game that possesses Armsmaster in each and every game you play: Deth Stryke the Swordsman. Deth Stryke the Swordsman Deth Stryke is a Champion, and thus more expensive to acquire. He has "Basic" Armsmaster, but may occasionally use a Random Ability pick to upgrade this to Super Armsmaster. Armsmaster as a Random Ability Some Heroes may occasionally acquire Armsmaster as one of their Random Abilities. Some, including Deth Stryke (who possesses Armsmaster by default, see above), may even acquire Super Armsmaster this way. The Armsmaster ability belongs to both the "Any" and "Fighter" categories. Any Hero with at least one pick from either category may occasionally choose Armsmaster. There are 18 Heroes in the game with access to these categories, and thus can gain either Armsmaster or Super Armsmaster as a result: Remember that Random Abilities are determined at the start of the campaign, and will not change during the game. However, a Hero may select different Random Abilities for the next campaign. For a Hero to gain Super Armsmaster, he/she must spend 2 picks if he/she does not already possess Armsmaster by default, but only 1 pick if he/she does already possess the "Basic" ability by default. That is why some Heroes do not have access to the "Super" version - they only get 1 pick! Category:Abilities Category:Hero Abilities